The present invention relates in general to wall structures made of pre-fabricated elements and, in particular to a new and useful substantially crack-free-load-bearing wall construction of pre-fabricated elements and method of producing the same.
In the building industry the use of pre-fabricated building elements has recently become more widespread. The object is to save time and money by producing large pre-fabricated elements which are assembled on the building site in a relatively short construction time.
For load-bearing walls, it is generally necessary to use, pre-fabricated elements of heavy concrete. Such elements have, up to now, therefore only been used for very large constructions where cranes capable of lifting the heavy weights of these elements are available. The weight of a pre-fabricated wall of heavy concrete of the dimensions 4 m/2.5 m/0.3 m, amounts to about 7.5 (metric) tons. A further disadvantage of pre-fabricated elements of heavy concrete is that they provide only a very limited amount of heat-insulation.
When the elements are assembled on site, expansion joints must be provided between the adjacent elements to allow for their expansion and contraction. These joints can be closed by elastic mastic sealing bands, and the like. In spite of these expansion joints, inner tensions build up and cause cracks in the walls which are not only ugly, but also have an adverse affect on the strength of the wall. As such walls are usually plastered, the cracks in the concrete and at the expansion joints become visible cracks in the plaster on the wall.
Pre-fabricated wall constructions are also known utilizing a plurality of pre-fabricated panel elements which have shaped edges. When such elements are abutted against each other to form a wall, the shaped edges form columns between adjacent panels which can be filled with reinforced concrete or the like for producing a load bearing framework for the panels. The panels themselves can be made with cut out portions to reduce their weight. In such construction, cracks may readily form in the area between adjacent panels due to uneven expansion between material of the panels and the material of the supporting columns. In such constructions special provisions must also be made for providing expansion joints and the like between adjacent panels since cracks will otherwise invariably form.